Volunteer Spins Out Web Pages

I’m beginning to feel obsolete; I don’t have my own Web page.

My 16-year-old son has one, to promote his punk rock band. My cousin has one. So do friends on the East Coast, who want people worldwide to see their new baby’s pictures.

Erin Lyden of Dove Canyon, who is just 21, has turned Web page creation into a small industry. She isn’t ready to say that the rest of us are out of touch if we don’t speak computerese. But in a few years, she predicts, we’d better be Internet alert--or else out of the loop.

Two years ago, Lyden walked into the American Red Cross office in Flagstaff, Ariz.--she’s a student at Northern Arizona University there--and volunteered to create a Web site for that chapter. Its officials were delighted, and a bit in awe.

She created a Web site for her college’s residence hall administration, and for several of its student associations. She’s busy now creating a Web site for the Irvine company where her father, Chris, works.

Among her most impressive accomplishments is the new Web site she created for the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross. She worked on it most of last summer, then put on the finishing touches during her recent Christmas vacation.

“She’s a remarkable talent,” said the local chapter’s spokeswoman, Judy Iannaccone. “We’re fortunate she had an interest in us.”

Not that Lyden is getting rich from all this. Almost all of her effort has been donated time. She did receive a small stipend from the public affairs firm of Frank Wilson and Associates to work on the local Red Cross chapter’s Web site. Wilson, a Red Cross board member, then donated it to the agency.

So where did Lyden learn all this? She’s self-taught.

“A few years ago I just started surfing the Internet and picked up ideas on how to build a Web page,” she said. “Now you can go to any major bookstore and buy a guide to Web building. But I had fun just teaching myself.”

Her first personal Web site was devoted to one of her favorite subjects, the “Star Wars” movie saga. Last year alone, she had more than 1,000 hits on that site.

She then developed a personal history Web site, and she’s working now on an “Alice in Wonderland” Web site for children.

Not that Lyden plans to follow the path of Bill Gates. She’s a psychology major, and her main interest is in research in that field. She does this computer stuff for kicks.

She actually showed up at the Red Cross offices in Arizona and here just to do volunteer work, taking all the prerequisite classes in disaster relief. But once she mentioned Web building on her resume, she found her talents in demand.

Here is Lyden’s message for the rest of us: Computers are easy.

“Many don’t really get into computers because they think everything is so difficult,” she said. “But you can go to almost any search engine [an Internet data directory] and discover how to do any number of things, such as Web page building.”

My problem is, if I had a Web page, I can’t imagine having any information that anyone else would care about. Wrong, Lyden says:

“Just put down your family history. A lot of people who are interested in genealogy scan Web pages seeking information about family names.”

Just how many are building their own Web pages?

“Zillions,” said Hans Meier, manager of a computer bookstore in Fountain Valley. “Name any subject, somebody’s got a Web page on it. But most try to get rich from it.”

Lyden must be the exception.

By the way, that local chapter Web site is www.oc-redcross.org. It’s well organized. It tells you about the chapter’s programs, how you can donate blood, plus how to sign up for classes and volunteer. It also has 30 tips for earthquake preparedness that are worth your time.

Noted Lyden: “Once you get started building a Web site, the possibilities are endless.”

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers can reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7823, by fax at (714) 966-7711 or by e-mail at [email protected]